1 Now about the service to the holy ones, it is
superfluous for me to write to you,

2

for I know your eagerness, about which I boast
of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia 2 has been ready
since last year; and your zeal has stirred up most of them.

3

Nonetheless, I sent the brothers 3
so that our boast about you might not prove empty in this case, so that you
might be ready, as I said,

4

for fear that if any Macedonians come with me
and find you not ready we might be put to shame (to say nothing of you) in this
conviction.

5

So I thought it necessary to encourage the
brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for your promised gift,
so that in this way it might be ready as a bountiful gift and not as an
exaction.

Each must do as already determined, without
sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

8

4 Moreover, God is able to make every grace
abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may
have an abundance for every good work.

9

As it is written: "He scatters abroad, he
gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."

10

The one who supplies seed to the sower and
bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of
your righteousness.

11

5 You are being enriched in every way for all
generosity, which through us produces thanksgiving to God,

12

for the administration of this public service
is not only supplying the needs of the holy ones but is also overflowing in
many acts of thanksgiving to God.

13

Through the evidence of this service, you are
glorifying God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ and the
generosity of your contribution to them and to all others,

14

while in prayer on your behalf they long for
you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you.

15

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

1 [1-15] Quite possibly this was
originally an independent letter, though it deals with the same subject and
continues many of the same themes. In that case, it may have been written a few
weeks later than 2 Cor 8, while the delegation there mentioned was still on its
way.

3 [3] I sent the brothers: the Greek
aorist tense here could be epistolary, referring to the present; in that case
Paul would be sending them now, and ⇒ 2 Cor 9:9
would merely conclude the letter of recommendation begun in
⇒ 2 Cor 9:8. But the aorist may also refer to a
sending that is past as Paul writes; then ⇒ 2 Cor 9:9,
with its apparently fresh beginning, is a follow-up message entrusted to
another carrier.

4 [8-10] The behavior to which he
exhorts them is grounded in God's own pattern of behavior. God is capable of
overwhelming generosity, as scripture itself attests (⇒ 2 Cor
9:9), so that they need not fear being short. He will provide in
abundance, both supplying their natural needs and increasing their
righteousness. Paul challenges them to godlike generosity and reminds them of
the fundamental motive for encouragement: God himself cannot be outdone.

5 [11-15] Paul's vision broadens to
take in all the interested parties in one dynamic picture. His language becomes
liturgically colored and conveys a sense of fullness. With a final play on the
words charis and eucharistia (see the note on ⇒ 2 Cor
8:1), he describes a circle that closes on itself: the movement of
grace overflowing from God to them and handed on from them through Paul to others
is completed by the prayer of praise and thanksgiving raised on their behalf to
God.